Multi-unit retail businesses present unique legal issues and challenges that require specific knowledge and experience when structuring a succession plan. To address the exit-planning needs of multi-unit business owners, our firm has created the Multi-Unit Succession and Transition (MUST®) group, led by Scott Husaby and John Berg.

A survey by a public accounting firm of medium-sized companies indicated that two-thirds of the business owners plan to leave their company within the next 10 years. Yet, only 22% of them report having done any material exit planning. In addition to these planned exits, a large percentage of unplanned exits will also result from divorces, owner disputes, disabilities, and deaths.

The mission of the MUST group is to draw upon MMB’s legal knowledge in the areas of taxation, estate planning, franchise, and mergers and acquisitions, and combine these services with MMB’s extensive experience with multi-unit retail businesses to provide targeted, effective exit plans for our business client owners. Since every business owner has individual goals and objectives, each owner’s exit plan is specifically tailored to meet those unique needs.

OUR PROCESS INVOLVES:

• Determining the owner’s objectives
• Ascertaining the business valuation
• Maximizing structure and tax planning
• Evaluating the benefits and burdens of various sale transfer options
• Implementing a process to insure business continuity
• Completing an estate and wealth preservation plan
• Executing the exit plan
• Using our proprietary MUST Trust to provide an efficient and effective succession and transition plan for the owner’s multi-unit business